Box.



E. 1. CADY.

BOX. APPLICATION FllED MAR. I1, 1.917.

Patented May 6, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. J CADY. BOX. APPLICATION FILED MAR.17|vI9l7.

Patented May 6, 1919. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 nsrrnn srarns PATENT canton EIlISHA JESSE CADY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Box.

Application filed March 17, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELISHA Jnssn CADY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boxes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to boxes formed of paperboard and used as shipping or pack ing cases, and it consists in certain matters hereinafter set forth and recited in the appended claims. v

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a boxbody and a lid in process of being assembled therewith, the parts illustrating the features of my improvements;

Fig. '2 is a plan view of the box-body of Fig. 1 when collapsed or folded down to position for packing and shipping the same;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of one of the sides and lids with an interposed closing strip in process of being assembled;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of- Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the same parts when stapled in position in the finished box;

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of a plurality of lids and their corner-strips asseIn bled in nested position for shipping or packing;

Fig. 7 is a detail cross-sectional view of one of the corners of the erected box, and

Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view showing the manner of forming the channel in the stock for the corner of Fig. 7.

The panels composing" the opposite sides 10, ends 11, and top and bottom lids 12 of the box are made of paperboard, and may be of any desired size and shape according to the box to be formed, the lids being of such dimensions that they conform to the cross-sectional area of the body and may be inset or countersunk into its open ends. The box-body comprising the side and end panels is preferably made from a sheet of paperboard and is provided with the flexible metallic corner-strips 13, preferably thin steel strips, whose wings are secured on the outer surface of the sheet by staples or rivets 14 over the lines where it is to be bent to form the box-corners and at its ends to form their connecting joint. .After the cor- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May (65, 919.

Serial No. 155,394.

and the material between each pair of thesev scores is routed out to form the channel 16 so that when the stock is bent to form the corners of the box the upper edges of the scores will contact as shown in Fig. 7. The channel prevents wrinkling of the stock on the inside of the strip and so avoids splitting the layers of stock when the strip is bent tocorner-form, and also eliminates the strain produced by the wrinkling of the inside portions and so prevents the outside surface from breaking when the strip is so bent, so that what is known in the trade as non-bending board, 2'. 6., low grade material which is brittle and breaks readily when bent, such as chip board, may be used. When the joint between the ends of the strip is finished, preferably by providing a channel as at 17 so that its inner upper edges will similarly contact when the box is erected, the body has all its side and end walls joined together by these metal strips. The strips being attached at thefactory to all the corners to form a completed body unit and being flexible along their longitudinal centers allow the unitary box-body to be collapsed or folded into flat. form like a collapsed tube for economy of space for packing or shipping purposes, for example in the manner and form shown in Fig. 2 for a rectangular box, and as all the metal parts then on the box-body are flat and practically flush with the surface of the body their liability to injury when handling in packing or shipping is reduced to a minimum. Also as the strips are vertically rigidv they form strengthening and protective corne'r pieces when the box-body is erected into box-like form as shown in Fig. 1, as their u WED squared and the corners are trued at all times at correct right angles to each other by reason of the permanency of the strips on all the corners and of their reinforcing effect at these points. This is important. and advantageous as it insures accuracy in the relations of the walls of the box so that when it is assembled for use by the consumer the lids or head's may be fitted on without the necessity of securing any of the body walls to complete the box or taking any special step for truing up the corners and so with the minimum of time and labor.

Each lid 12 is provided at the factory with a sheet metal closing strip on each edge. Each strip is in the form of a gooseneck and is composed of a wing 18 adapted to be riveted or stapled to the surface of the lid as at 19, and a vertical trough 20 which is flared toward its mouth or V-shaped in cross section and extends above the outer face of the lid. All paperboards and veneers warp more or less, and the edges of the former fray or break down in handling and shipping so that it is laborious and frequently impossible to enter them into the channel of the closing strip on the lid. To obviate these defects so they will not interfere with the ease or speed of assembling or finishing the box, I accommodate this warping or fraying of the walls by making the trough of the closing-strip flared or bellshaped in cross-section so that in assembling the strip on the edge of the box-wall the flared mouth of the trough will embrace all of the warp or unevenness of the walls, and the assembly of these parts is easy and rapid as the trough is plain surfaced and so has no projectionsor obstructions on its inside. This is illustrated in Figs. 1, 3 and 1, and when the lid is pressed down to place the trough straightens out the edge of the Wall and brings it into line with the base of the trough. When the lids are inserted into the open ends of the erected box-body the troughs of the closing strips receive and aline the edges of thesides 10 and ends 11, and as the troughs extend above the outer faces of the lids the latterare inset or countersunk in the box-body below the plane of the edges of its ends and sides. The troughs of the closing strips are then secured to the edges of the sides and ends by rivets or staples 21 which pass through both walls of the trough and the intervening edge of the side or end as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and in stapling the parts to close the flare in the trough the edges of the walls are brought into the closed relation more clearly shown in this latter figure. Each trough extends to the corners of the lid to inolose the ends of the corner-strips at the corresponding corners.

By my invention I can use for shipping boxes or cases any paper board regardless of its bending strength; for use in such devices the bending capacity or quality of the stock heretofore used had to be strong enough to meet the bending tests of the railroads shipping requirements, which are high and so heretofore necessitated the use of expensive materials, usually those containing foreign or imported fibers. But as all the bends of my box are routed out so the corner can be formed without splitting or breaking the stock I can use any paperboard regardless of its bending strength, the necessary tensile or punching strength, required by the railroads shipping regulations being present in cheaper forms of paperboard which do not have the required bending strength, and so in practice I am able to effect a saving of from twenty to thirty per cent. in the cost of stock over the old method of making boxes. Even if occasional fractures occur the corners are protected by the metal strips so that the usefulness or strength of the box is not impaired. And as all the corners are provided with the cornerstrips at the factory the complete bodyunit composed of the panels and their cornor-strips folds down flat into the form of a collapsed tube for shipping or packing purposes, and also is all ready for erection into box-like form, so that its panels or walls are all squared up and its corner-strips trued up by the consumer or user merely expanding the fiat unit to its box-shape and without the necessity of either using a former or then further securing any of its 100 parts together, and all the corners are also uniformly protected and strengthened. The flared form of the closing strips on the lids also contributes to this advantage of using cheap grades of board as it enables 105 the user or shipper to assemble the box and fasten its lid in place just as rapidly with all grades of stock irrespective of their warping, fraying or irregularities. By my invention the complete flat body-unitmay be 110 shipped in the form of a collapsed tube which is all ready to be erected or squared and its two ends assembled in a few seconds.

as the user can position the combined lids and troughs on the body by merely drop- 115 ping them into place and without using any former or filler in the body to regulate the distance or extent to which the lids are inset or to hold them in position while fastening them in place on the body, and when 120 in place the outer flanges of the troughs inclose and protect the ends of the cornerstrips so that the latter cannot be caught and bent or stripped from the box and cannot cut or injure the handlers.

When the lids are packed for shipment or storage the troughs nest together as shown in Fig. 6, one telescoping Within the other, so that they reduce space and are protected from injury by their united strength, and 130 as the lids are secured to the wings of the strips the stock of the lids is plane-surfaced or not bent and so retains its full strength and enables low grade or non-bending stock to be used for the lids, and large numbers of combined lids and strips can be packed and shipped in the same package, while the user or customer being thus provided with closure-units consisting of the assembled lids and strips is relieved of the operation of securing the strips to the lids and can easily and quickly position these units on the body and fix the troughs on the box-wall in pilfer proof condition by the use of an ordinary stapling or clenching device.

I am aware of Floras Patent No. 881,785 dated March 10th, 1908, in which the metal edgings on the heads or lids are in a continuous strip or piece with a strap-end 12 that bends around one of the corners with the periphery of the strip of a continuous fixed area or size and with its trough of fixed cross-sectional contour and incapable of being flared or expanded to take up the warped or uneven edges of the stock; but this device is commercially impractical as the time and labor required in inserting or fitting even perfect stock into the trough or channel that at all times is just the width of its thickness are prohibitive, while when the stock is warped or uneven the assemblage cannot be accomplished. Also, Floras edgings cannot nest, and so not only occupy unnecessary space but are inconvenient. for packing and are subject to injury in handling for packing and shipping. I am aware that serious efl'orts were made to introduce the device of Floras patent into use and upon the market, but owing to the difficulties and objections above noted the commercial impracticability of the device rapidly developed and these efforts were abandoned. I am also aware of Herzs Patent No. 694,27 5 dated February 25, 1902, in which the separate panels 01 leaves are provided with edgings having similarly restricted and fixed guideways c and which are therefore incapable of use in analogy with mine; also of necessity Herzs box-body must be shipped or packed in the extended form shown in his Fig. 6, and so its edgings prevent nesting of the edge strips and the user or consumer must secure the final corner-strip 6 instead of merely squaring up the prepared collapsed body with the cornerstrips in place to true up the parts as in my invention. I am also aware that efforts were made to introduce the device of Rebers Patent No. 1,046,018, dated Dec. 3, 1912, into use and upon the market, but were unsuccessful and abandoned because, among other rea sons, the prongs or fingers of the troughs prevented the latter being packed and shipped to the user in nested form and in combined form with the lids, and the user was compelled to perform the tedious and expensive operation of fastening the metal strips to the lids, and the prongs also failed to afford satisfactory and practical means for securing the strips to the lids and boxbody as they would bend or curl up instead of penetrating the stock, and also because the bending of the edges of the lids to form the flanges for attachment to the strips broke the stock and prevented the use of non-bending grades of stock.

I claim 1. A box structure comprising a body-unit formed of panels of paperboard and flexible corner-pieces, and closure-units comprising plane-surfaced inset lids provided at their edges with metallic closing strips each of which is composed of a wing secured to an edge of its associated lid and outwardly bent to provide a vertical trough which is flared to nest with other troughs when the parts are packed and to embrace the associated edge of a panel and is compressible to contain the edge when the lid is assembled on the body-unit erected in box-like form, and clencher fasteners passing through both walls of the trough and the contained panel-edge.

2. A box structure comprising a bodyunit formed of a strip of paperboard adapted to form its adjacent panels and cornerpieces made of metallic strips attached to the panels across the predetermined cornerportions of the unit and flexible along their longitudinal central lines to permit the completed body-unit to collapse into flat folded formation and vertically rigid to shape-up its panels to its box-like form by merely expanding the unit to such form and then to form angle braces for its corners, and closure-units comprising plane-surfaced inset lids provided at their edges with metallic closing strips each of which is composed of a wing secured to an edge of its associated lid and outwardly bent to provide a vertical trough which is flared to nest with other troughs when the parts are packed and to embrace the associated edge of a panel and the corresponding ends of its corner-strips and is compressible to contain the edge and ends when the lid is assembled on the bodyunit erected in box-like form, and clencher fasteners passing through both walls of the trough and the contained panel-edge.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence-of two witnesses.

Witnesses J. MoRoBER'rs, E. WnLoox. 

